Azaranica is a non-biased news aggregator on Hazaras and Hazarajat...The main aim is to promote understanding and respect for cultural identities by highlighting the realities they are facing on daily basis...Hazaras have been the victim of active persecution and discrimination and one of the reasons among many has been the lack of information, awareness and disinformation...... To further awareness against violence, disinformation and discrimination, we have launched a sister Blog for youths and youths are encouraged to share their stories and opinions; Young Pens

Members of the Hazara community shout slogans during the Quetta blasts’ victims’ funeral ceremony. PHOTO: AFPQUETTA:

The bodies of 87 slain Hazaras, which had been accompanied by thousands of mourners from the Shia Hazara community on Alamdar Road for a full four days, were finally laid to rest on Monday.

Some 17 bodies, unidentifiable due to the impact of the blast, wait for their families to recognise and bury them.

The Hazara Town graveyard, Barory, and Ganje Shuhada graveyard, Alamdar Road, receivedthe victims of the January 10 bomb blasts that claimed more than a 100 lives, only after the community’s elders announced that the protest was officially over. Their decision followed Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s announcement that some of the community’s demands would be met, including the dismissal of the provincial assembly and the imposition of governor rule.

“We trust the decision of the elders of our tribe. However, we are wary of trusting the government’s promises. It may be just a pacifier … We have some degree of satisfaction over governor rule in the province, and (the fact that) false cases against our Hazara brothers in police stations and courts (are) being withdrawn, along with release of those Hazaras who are in prisons,” said a Hazara community member who returned home for the first time since the blast, while talking to The Express Tribune. Yet, he shared, his community was not happy with how “giving more power to Frontier Corps (FC) is being dealt with. It reeks of deception. Only time will tell”.

Another member of the community pointed out that most who had lost their lives on that fateful day were young boys volunteering to save those who were injured in the initial explosion. “The first blast had fewer casualties. That was actually bait to draw as many men as possible to the site, so that a maximum number of men lose their lives in the attack,” he said.

The man told about how he lost his 23-year-old cousin who was about to get married soon. “He called us after the second blast saying ‘I have lost one arm and one leg, and I am bleeding too much. Come soon. There are others here who are in worse condition than me’. By the time we covered the 45 minute distance from Barory to Alamdar road, he was gone. We have been through hell. We are still living it.”

Sitting out in the freezing cold for days has left the Hazara community physically exhausted. There has been a spread of respiratory and chest infections, as well as joint aches and pains. Emotionally too, the deaths and protests have taken their toll. Yet, their resolve is unwavering.

“We are not going to give up the struggle. But from the government and the people of Pakistan, all we can request is, ‘bring the culprits to task’. You all know who they are. And if you cannot do that, at least stop supporting them,” said a female Hazara activist, adding that death does not scare her any more.

What has driven the besieged minority is a wave of support which brought several parts of the country to a standstill over the last few days, leaving a fearful government resorting to jamming mobile phone networks once again.

“It is heartening to see how people all over Pakistan and in fact all over the world have woken up to the cause of Hazaras. The turnout of women at the sit-in is no small feat, considering how protective and conservative Hazaras and generally the people of the province are when it comes to their women,” a Hazara activist said. The campaigner added, “It was excruciatingly painful to make our dead wait to be buried. But I think the sacrifice of those who died will not have gone in vain.”

A spokesperson on behalf of Shia Hazara activists gave this statement of gratitude: “To all our honourable brothers and sisters who joined hands with us in these painful moments – We are thankful to those mothers the world over who have trained their children to support the oppressed when in pain …”

It went on to add: “We pray to Allah that you all never have to suffer how we have suffered. Rest assured, if ever a time comes when God forbid you all need support, the Shia Hazaras will be by your side, and will not hesitate from giving any sacrifice to safeguard you. May God be with you. From the Shia Hazara community.”

Demand for army

Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen Central Secretary Raja Nasir Abbas demanded of Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Magsi to call in the army for security in Quetta.

FC and police personnel, along with volunteers of the Hazara Community, were on alert as the burials took place.

Later, addressing a joint press conference, Abbas along with leader of Yakjehti Council Qayyum Nazar Changezi and the head of the Hazara tribe Sardar Saadat Ali Hazara expressed gratitude towards Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. At the same time, they demanded that Quetta be handed over to the army, since the FC had not proved effective in the past.

The speakers said they shared equally the grief of the journalists martyred in the bomb blast.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - THE prolonged yet heart-rending sit-in by members of Hazara community in Quetta and protests across the country and in some foreign countries finally forced the Government to act in a manner that is likely to help overcome some of the problems of Balochistan. After his discussions with allies and talks with representatives of protestors, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf announced imposition of Governor’s Rule in the province and the decision served as a solace to aggrieved families.

The move is being appreciated by different circles but the fact remains that demand for the Governor’s Rule was there for about one year yet the authorities concerned did not pay any heed to the legitimate and logical demand. It is unfortunate that decision came amidst killing of over one hundred innocent souls at a time and strong protests by each and every segment of the society. The tragedy, in fact, shook the entire nation as families, relatives and members of Hazara community cried and braved harsh weather conditions to convey their injured sentiments to the people and decision-makers. Target killings including those of Hazara community had been there for quite some time but the latest incident was heart-breaking as about one hundred people became victim of the terrorist attacks. Therefore, anger of the community as well as people of Pakistan was quite understandable. It is satisfying that almost all political parties, leaders of public opinion and religious leaders representing different shades of opinion condemned the tragedywith one voice and demanded stern action to restore normalcy in Balochistan. The resilience anddetermination of families of the victims, who braved extreme cold and waited for five days to bury their dead, proved to be a turning point. However, mere imposition of the Governor’s Rule and dismissal of an inefficient, inactive and corrupt administration would not help until and unless the Governor moves firmly, with support of all law enforcing agencies including Army, to eliminate terrorists and law-breakers. There should be zero tolerance for those who take lives of other people and are engaging in acts aimed at destabilizing the province and the country.

Mourners sit beside the coffins of blast victims at a mosque following overnight twin suicide bombings in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP

QUETTA: Shia leaders called on the military on Friday to seize control of the provincial capital of Quetta to protect the Muslim minority after one of the worst sectarian attacks in the country’s history.

Shia leaders also told Reuters they would not allow the 82 victims of two bomb attacks in Quetta on Thursday to be buried until their demands were met.

A string of bombings left at least 93 people dead and over 150 wounded in one of the bloodiest days of violence that Balochistan has seen for years.

A suicide bomber detonated the explosives inside a crowded snooker club on Alamdar Road, a Shia-dominated neighbourhood of Quetta.

As soon as mediapersons, police and rescue officials reached the site, the second blast went off. Television channels counted the two explosions as suicide attacks. Most of the casualties were caused by the second blast.

The bombings disrupted power supplies and plunged the Alamdar Road neighbourhood into darkness. The area is dominated by the Hazara community, who are Shias by sect. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the blast and said their target was the Hazara community.

The killing of 81 people in a Shiite area of Quetta on Thursday is the latest sign that a war by Sunni militants on minority sects in Pakistan is spiraling out of control.

The twin blasts on a Quetta billiard hall are part of a systematic attempt by Sunni extremists to wipe out the Hazaras, a Shiite ethnic group that emigrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan three generations ago.

Sunni gunmen with links to the Taliban for over a year have been targeting members of the Persian-speaking Hazara community, often in broad daylight, on the streets of Quetta, a lawless city in Pakistan’s southwest near the frontier with Afghanistan.

But the violence against Shiites hasn’t been restricted to Quetta and the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, of which it is the capital. Shiites have increasingly been gunned down in Karachi, the southern financial capital. In August, militants wearing Pakistan army uniforms boarded a bus travelling into Pakistan’s Himalayas and shot dead over 20 Shiite passengers after checking their identity cards.

Human Rights Watch estimates around 400 Shiites were killed in Pakistan last year, an escalation of violence that highlights the failure of Pakistan’s security forces to bring extremist groups under control despite international pressure on Pakistan to rein them in.

A look at Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a banned Sunni sectarian organization that claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack, shows why the state is failing to stem the violence...Continue Reading....

Ghalib Khalil, via TumblrIrfan Ali, a Pakistani activist who was killed on Thursday in a bombing, addressed a rally against sectarian attacks in September in Islamabad.

Bombs in two Pakistani cities killed at least 115 people on Thursday, with the worst carnage inflicted by two explosions a few minutes apart in the southwestern city of Quetta, taking the lives of at least 81 people. As my colleague Declan Walsh reports from Islamabad, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group with strong ties to the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a Quetta neighborhood dominated by ethnic Hazara Shiites.

The group maximized the deadliness of the bloody attack by sending a suicide bomber to detonate his explosives inside a snooker hall, and then a second attacker blew up his vehicle outside the club a short time later, killing rescue workers and journalists.

Among those killed by the second blast was a rights activist, Irfan Ali, 33, who was helping the injured. Just before his death, he noted on his @khudialiTwitter feed that he had narrowly escaped the fist blast. Then he postedanother message, registering his dismay that the group behind the attack had also succeeded in driving some Hazara families out of their homes. The families who moved out, he wrote in his final words on Twitter, had “finally succumbed to the genocidal pressure,” from the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It was, he noted, a “sad day for diversity in Baluchistan,” the northwestern province that has Quetta as its capital....Continue Reading...

Thursday, January 10, 2013

QUETTA: Thursday, January 10, turned out to be a horrific day for the people of Quetta when the city was rocked by three bombings that killed at least 96 people and injured over 200. The dead included security officials, Edhi volunteers, a TV reporter and a cameraman. The last bombing of the day was the most powerful ever to hit the city.

The first explosion took place at the Bacha Khan Chowk in the afternoon while the other two occured on the crowded Alamdar Road at night.

The deadly twin blasts that rocked Alamdar Road left at least 80 people dead, including a deputy superintendent of police, an SHO, Edhi volunteers, a reporter and cameraman of Samaa TV, while 200 others were injured.

Police said the first blast took place outside a snooker club at the Rehmatullah Chowk, an area inhabited by the Hazara Shia community, at about 8:50pm, which left some 10 people injured. The more powerful second blast took place on the same spot after 20 minutes when a lot of passers-by, media men and police officials had assembled to evacuate the injured of the first blast.

This resulted in the death of as many as 70 people on the spot, most of them from the Hazrara Shia community. DSP Mujahid Hussain, SHO Zafar Ali, Samaa cameraman Imran Sheikh, a reporter of the same channel, Saifur Rehman, and four Edhi volunteers were among those killed. A Geo cameraman Acme Roger received injuries on the face.

All the injured, some of them in a precarious condition, were rushed to different hospitals in the city, where an emergency had been declared. The blasts caused suspension of electricity supply to the area.

“It was the largest ever bomb to have hit the city,” said a senior police official. Police experts said that more than 100 kg of explosives were used in the bomb, a record for troubled Quetta city.

Earlier, the first bomb of the day exploded at a busy shopping area, the Bacha Khan Chowk, killing at least 12 people and wounding 40 others. Hospital sources feared that the death toll might rise, as many injured people were in a critical condition. One Jawan of the Frontier Corps (FC) was among the 12 people who were killed in the blast.

The bomb was planted under a white-coloured car and went off with a big bang at around 3:50pm. “Initial investigations suggest that the blast was caused by a remote controlled bomb, which was planted under a vehicle,” CCPO Quetta Mir Zubair said while talking to newsmen on the spot. The thud of the explosion could be heard several kilometres away. Apparently, the blast targeted a security forces’ vehicle, sources added.

More than 12 vehicles and four motorcycles were badly damaged in the blast. The windowpanes of nearby buildings were smashed. The victims were shifted to the Civil Hospital and CMH.

The police and law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area. “It was a high-powered time device weighing 20 to 25 kilograms and was planted under a car near the Baldia Plaza at Bacha Khan Chowk”, said officials of the bomb disposal squad. The blast created a nine-foot-long and four-foot-deep crater.

I usually write in Norwegian on this blog, but due to the international proportions of today’s hideous attacks targeting the Hazara people in Quetta, Pakistan, I’ve decided to write this post in English.

As most of my Hazara friends and acquaintances know, I am not Hazara myself. In fact, until just a few years ago, I had never heard the name and knew nothing of their plight.

Through personal contact with refugees who have come to Norway, where I currently reside, I have gotten to know many Hazaras personally, and even more so through internet activism and personal research. What I have discovered has been both marvelous and horrifying: the former for the overwhelming hospitality and friendship which I have encountered in the Hazara community, which has embraced me as one of their own; the latter for the appalling human rights atrocities being committed against them; actively by the Afghan and Pakistani governments, and passively by the Norwegian and other European nations.... Continue Reading...

QUETTA: Balochistan government has announced three-day mourning over the killing of 81 people in twin suicide attacks on Alamdar Road, Geo News reported.

Meanwhile, the provincial government has announced compensation for the heirs of blast victims.

Sources said Rs2 million each would be provided to the heirs of deceased police officers and personnel while Rs1 million each would be provided to the relatives of other victims of Alamdar Road blasts.

Rs1 million each has also been announced for reporter and cameraman, of private TV channel ‘Samaa’, who lost their lives in the attack.

Twin blasts at a snooker hall in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta have killed 81 people and injured more than 120, police say.

Many of the casualties were caused by the second blast as police and media rushed to the scene.

The bombed area is predominantly Shia Muslim, and the Sunni extremist group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, said it had carried out the attack.

Earlier, a bomb in a market area killed 11 people and injured 27 more.

A spokesman for another militant group, the United Baloch Army, said it had carried out that attack.

Balochistan is plagued by both a separatist rebellion and sectarian infighting between Sunnis and Shias.

The Taliban and armed groups that support them also carry out attacks in the province, particularly in areas near the Afghan border. Pakistan's military has been engaged in a long-running battle against those militant groups... Continue Reading...

Attacks in city of Quetta, including two bombs in ten minutes at snooker club, come at time of heightened political tension

Jon Boone in Islamabadguardian.co.uk, Thursday 10 January 2013 15.40 ESTPeople search for the victims of two bomb attacks in a snooker hall in Quetta, south-west Pakistan. Photograph: Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images

A vicious double bombing of a snooker club capped one of the bloodiest days in Pakistan for many months on Thursday, leaving more than 100 people dead and hundreds injured in three different attacks.

The death toll was shockingly high even by the bloody standards of Pakistan, which is beset by separatist insurgencies and Islamic militants at war with the state.

The surge in violence comes at a time of heightened political tension as the preparations of the coalition government to step down and fight elections have been threatened by a religious cleric who plans to bring a massive protest march to the capital on Monday.

Tahir-ul-Qadri's march, which the religious leader says will turn Islamabad into Tahrir Square, is billed as a protest against corruption and a demand for clean elections, but many politicians fear the real purpose is to find a pretext to delay the polls.

On Thursday Quetta, the south–east city that is home to the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and groups fighting for the province of Baluchistan to become an independent state, was rocked by two attacks.

A security check post was targeted in the first blast in the morning, killing 12 and injuring 25, according to the province's chief minister.

A little known group called the United Baluch Army claimed responsibility.

In the evening another 81 people lost their lives and 110 were wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up within ten minutes of each other in a packed building where young men go to play snooker.

The second blast appeared to be deliberately designed to kill the medical workers, anguished relatives and journalists who rushed to the scene.

Mohammed Murtaza, a police officer, said the second bomb caused the building to collapse, killing even more people.

Many of the dead and wounded, Murtaza said, were from the Shia sect of Islam, which extremist groups drawn from Pakistan's majority Sunni popular regard as heretics.

Shias, many of whom are members of the Hazara ethnic community in Quetta, have been particularly targeted by sectarian terror groups.

Human Rights Watch said the government's failure to protect Shias "amounts to complicity in the barbaric slaughter of Pakistani citizens".

"[Last year] was the bloodiest year for Pakistan's Shia community in living memory and if this latest attack is any indication, 2013 has started on an even more dismal note," said Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch.

"As Shia community members continue to be slaughtered in cold blood, the callousness and indifference of authorities offers a damning indictment of the state, its military and security agencies."

The organisation said the police had "turned a blind eye" to the activities of nominally banned sectarian terror groups, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

Also on Thursday a bomb ripped through a crowded Sunni mosque outside the north-west city of Mingora in Swat, an area the government had to wrest from Taliban control in 2009.

The building is owned by Tableeghi Jamaat, a preaching organisation that is not linked to any militant organisations.

The attack killed 22 people and wounded more than 70, said a senior police officer.

In 2012 a total of 2,050 people were killed and 3,822 injured in Pakistan in attacks by Islamic militants, nationalist insurgents and violent sectarian groups.

Pakistani security personnel search wreckage after two suicide bombers hit Quetta, Pakistan, killing 69. A series of bombs across the country left more than 100 people dead overnight. Source: AFP

A SERIES of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed 103 people, including 69 who died in a sectarian attack on a bustling billiard hall in the southwest city of Quetta, officials said.

The blasts punctuated one of the deadliest days in recent years in Pakistan, where the government faces a bloody insurgency by Taliban militants in the northwest and Baluch militants in the southwest.

The country is also home to many enemies of the US that Washington has frequently targeted with drone attacks. A US missile strike overnight killed five suspected militants in the seventh such attack in two weeks, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The billiard hall in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, was hit by twin blasts about 10 minutes apart, killing 69 people and wounding more 160 others, said senior police officer Hamid Shakeel.

The billiard hall was located in an area dominated by Shiite Muslims, and most of the dead and wounded were from the minority sect, said another police officer, Mohammed Murtaza.

A blast victim is rushed to a hospital after twin attacks in Quetta, Pakistan.

Many of the people who rushed to the scene after the first blast and were hit by the second bomb, which caused the roof of the building to collapse, he said.

Police officers, journalists and rescue workers who responded to the initial explosion were also among the dead, police said.

The sectarian militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for the attack to local journalists. One of the group's spokesmen, Bakar Saddiq, said the first blast was carried out by a suicide bomber and the second was a bomb planted in a car and detonated by remote control.

QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) - At least 57 people were killed and 110 wounded when two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a crowded snooker club in the southwestern city of Quetta on Thursday, a senior police officer said.

The first suicide bomber detonated his device inside the club, then about 10 minutes later another attacker in a car outside the building blew himself up as police, media workers and rescue teams rushed to the site, officer Mir Zubair Mehmood told AFP.

"The two attacks left 57 people dead and 110 injured," Mehmood said, adding that "both were suicide attacks, it is confirmed now".

The twin blasts, which came hours after a separate explosion in a crowded commercial area of the city left 11 dead, was the worst attack in Quetta since a suicide bomber blew himself up at a 2010 Shiite rally, killing around 50 people.

Mehmood said those killed in the twin bombings included six police officials, a local television cameraman, and several rescue workers.

Police said the bombings disrupted power supplies and plunged the area into darkness.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the two blasts.Quetta is the capital of the province of Baluchistan, one of the most deprived parts of Pakistan, which suffers from Islamist militancy, a separatist insurgency and sectarian violence.

QUETTA: At least 56 people including a private news channel cameraman and a DSP, were killed as two back-to-back bomb blasts hit the city Thursday evening, Geo News reported.

Sources told Geo News the first blast, was a suicide one was reported from Rehmattullah Chowk on Alamdar Road, whereas the second one which struck Airport road area nearby came minutes after the first one.

Police say the first blast was a suicide one.

"The second bomb went off by the time media, rescue, and law enforcement officials reached the spot" sources said.

Geo News team, which arrived at the site to cover the first blast however narrowly escaped the second one, but the satellite van they were in was damaged partially. The staff received minor injuries.

"The shrapnel or the flying debris, which hit the Geo News DSMG following the second blast shattered its windshield", sources said.

Police officers, mediamen, and rescue workers were also among the injured and the dead, said security sources.

DIG Hamid Shakil says the number of injured is as high as 163.

Fearing a rise in casualties, the hospital sources said some of the injured were critical.

DSP Quaidabad, Mujahid Hussain, who was injured in the second blast succumbed to his wounds later in the hospital.

The private TV cameraman who was killed on the spot was identified as Imran Shaikh. The satellite engineer of the same news channel was also wounded in the blast.

It is noted that there are two Imambargahs on Alamdar road and Hazara community makes up most of the population of this area.

The blasts caused suspension of electricity supply after they might have damaged the electricity pylons.

The above two blasts bring today's number of explosions hitting the terror-stricken city to three. At least twelve people including two children and a FC personal were killed while 40 others sustained injuries when a powerful bomb ripped through Bacha Khan Chowk earlier in the day.

Twin blasts at a snooker hall in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta have killed at least 50 people and injured dozens more, police say.

Many of the casualties were caused by the second blast as police and media rushed to the scene,

Earlier, a bomb in a market area killed 11 people and injured 27 more, police said.

A spokesman for a militant group, the United Baloch Army, said it had carried out that attack.

Balochistan is plagued by a separatist rebellion and sectarian infighting between Sunnis and Shias.

The Taliban and armed groups that support them also carry out attacks in the province, particularly in areas near the Afghan border. Pakistan's military has been engaged in a long-running battle against those militant groups.'Cameraman killed'

A senior police officer, Hamid Shakil, told Agence France-Presse news agency that the first bomb at the snooker exploded outside the building and that the second blast occurred 10 minutes later as rescue workers, police and media arrived.

The first blast devastated a market area

The dead reportedly included a cameraman from a television channel.

Home Secretary Akbar Durrani told AFP the bombs were in an area dominated by the minority Shia Muslim community.

QUETTA: Nine people including a private news channel cameraman were killed as two back-to-back bomb blasts hit the city Thursday evening, Geo News reported.

Sources told Geo News the first blast was reported from Rehmattullah Chowk on Alamdar Road, whereas the second one which struck Airport road area nearby came minutes after the first one.

"The second bomb went off by the time media, rescue, and law enforcement officials reached the spot" sources said.

Geo News team, which arrived at the site to cover the first blast however narrowly escaped the second one, but the satellite van they were in was damaged partially. The staff received minor injuries.

Police officers, mediamen, and rescue workers are also among the 15 injured.

It is pertinent to mention that at least twelve people including two children and a FC personal were killed while 40 others sustained injuries when a powerful bomb ripped through Bacha Khan Chowk earlier in the day.

QUETTA: At least twelve people including two children and a FC personal were killed while 40 others sustained injuries as a bomb explosion rocked Bacha Khan Chowk here on Thursday, hospital sources said.

A congested market is located at the site of the incident and the explosion took place during peak hours.

According to reports, the target of the attack was an FC checkpost. Several vehicles including a vehicle of law enforcement agency, nearby shops and food stalls were badly damaged in the explosion.

Rescue teams after reaching the site of the incident shifted injured people to hospitals where emergency was imposed.

Bomb disposal squad collected the evidences from the site of the incident. It said timer device was used for the explosion which carried almost 20 to 25 kilograms of explosive material.

Whatever the truth, and it's often difficult to tell in Pakistan, the international community needs to do more to highlight the plight of the peace-loving Hazara communityPakistan's Hazara community has faced terrifying persecutionGhaffar HussainOn 10 January 2013 10:10

Life for minority communities in Pakistan has never been great. Drive-by shootings, bomb attacks, lynchings, and assassinations targeting members of religious and ethnic minorities are ubiquitous in the nuclear armed state, established in the name of Islam to protect Muslims.

The persecution of religious minorities such as Christians, Hindus, Shias, and Ahmedis often makes it into the international media and is discussed domestically, especially when major massacres occur. However, the on-going genocide being directed at the Hazara community in Pakistan seems to have attracted very little international media attention and even less domestic political attention. No-one seems to know what is going on and no-one seems to care.

The Hazara community in Pakistan is approximately 950,000 strong, with most living in the Baluchistan province. They are a highly visible ethnic minority as well as religious minority. They are largely Shia, speak a Persian dialect known as Dari, and have Central Asian features as opposed to South Asian.

In the past 10 years, there have been around 120 major attacks on members of the Hazara community which have resulted in around 800 deaths and over 1500 injuries. Though some attacks have targeted high-profile community members, around one-third of the victims have been children. In 2012 alone there were 56 attacks. A further 300 Hazaras have died trying to flee Pakistan for the safety of other countries, mainly Australia since it has an established Hazara community.

The more shocking aspect of this on-going genocide is that the Hazara community has no idea why it is being targeted or by whom. They are not calling for independence or autonomy, nor are they engaged in any political struggle. They are largely a peaceful people concerned with nothing more than earning a living and making a contribution to their country.... Continue Reading....

QUETTA: Three people were killed and another three were injured in incidents of firing in various parts of Quetta, DawnNews reported on Monday.

According to the police, unknown gunmen opened fire on a taxi, killing one and injuring three others. The injured were shifted to the Central Military Hospital (CMH) in Quetta where the conditions of two were reported to be critical.

Separately, a man was shot dead when unknown gunmen opened fire on the Fatima Jinnah Road situated in the eastern Quetta.

In another incident, unknown assailants gunned down a man in Kuchlak bazaar on the outskirts of Quetta. The deceased was said to be a native of Balochiastan’s Loralai district.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Sectarian strife and targeted killings continue to claim more victims by the day. DESIGN: FAIZAN DAWOOD

ISLAMABAD:

The past five years have been difficult for Balochistan according to statistics revealed by the home department. Violence in the province has claimed over 2,100 lives and left 3,845 injured in over 3,232 incidents of bomb blasts and rocket attacks in this period. Amidst rising sectarian strife and targeted killings, the government’s inability to deal with the situation appears more jarring than ever.

Throughout the province, sectarian killings remain the biggest challenge. From 2008 to 2012, 758 members of the Shia community were killed in 478 incidents. Of these, 338 victims belonged to the Hazara community, indicating that Hazaras remain the prime targets of these aggressions.

The province has become a base for a decade-long insurgency as well as a killing field for various sects. Banned outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi allegedly keeps targeting Shias throughout Balochistan. Accordingly, officials have beefed up safety measures from Quetta to Taftan and are even planning to hold meetings with Iranian authorities to discuss possible arrangements to facilitate the movement of Hazaras from Marriabad to Hazara Town and Hazar Ganji.

“The shia community, the Hazaras in particular, remains the prime target of violent groups in the province,” Balochistan Home Secretary Captain (retd) Akram Durrani told The Express Tribune when asked about these statistics. “We are struggling against militants, but the situation is not as bad as [what is] being reported.”

He added that the increasing trend of violence in Balochistan is alarming, regardless of the disparity between the reported numbers and the actual happenings on the ground.

The findings also uncover staggering ‘kill and dump’ statistics. Around 570 dead bodies have been found strewn throughout the province, with 370 of the victims belonging to the Baloch community and 89 to the Pashtun community. The rest remain unidentified to this day.

Further still, over 402 non-Baloch have been killed in 498 incidents, and over 486 injured in multiple attacks.

Not surprisingly, security personnel have also suffered great losses. As many as 340 Frontier Corps personnel and 380 policemen have lost their lives in the line of duty, and 508 security officials in total have been left wounded.

Analysts say that despite the staggering figures, the provincial government is yet to review regulations pertaining to the movement of pilgrims under the Travel Agency Act of 1976. In one instance, police decided to refer the investigation of ‘sensitive cases’ to the Crime Investigation Department after the arrest of alleged terrorist Sher Dil of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, also known as Babu, in a bid to curb violence in Balochistan.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

José Berardo plans to add sculpture by Fernando Botero and Tony Cragg among others to Quinta dos Loridos north of Lisbon

By Gareth Harris. Web only

Published online: 01 January 2013

José Berardo's sculpture was initially created in homage to the sixth-century Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001

The Portuguese billionaire José Berardo has added an homage to the sixth-century Bamiyan Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001 to his sculpture park in Quinta dos Loridos, north of Lisbon. “We have not recreated the Buddhas themselves, rather we commissioned 6,000 tons of stone sculptures from [Chinese] artisans in the Shijiazhuang area,” says Zaid Abdali, the project manager, adding “6,000 tons being the estimated weight of the lost sculptures”. There are 1,217 sculptures dotted around the 35-hectare park, which has opened in phases since 2006. There is even an army of 45 terracotta warriors based on the real one discovered protecting the tomb of the Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi.

On 26 February 2001, the leader of the then Taliban, Mullah Mohammed Omar, issued an order calling for the destruction of “all statues of non-Islamic shrines located in the different parts of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. Within five days the Taliban said it had destroyed two-thirds of the country’s statues, including the Bamiyan Valley’s colossal Buddhas. Berardo, the chairman of the investment company Metalgest, says he was “profoundly shocked” by the iconoclasm, prompting the ambitious sculpture project.

A new area dedicated to Modern and contemporary sculpture, due to open by this summer, will feature gargantuan works by Fernando Botero (Male Torso, 1992), Tony Cragg (Line of Thought, 2006) and Danny Lane (Stairway, 2005).

Lynn Chadwick’s stainless steel sculpture Ace of Diamonds III, 2003, and Zadok Ben-David’s bronze female figure Looking Back, 2005, also due to go on display. They were bought in 2007 by the collector from the Cass Sculpture Foundation, a charitable trust based in Goodwood in the south of England. Wilfred Cass, the charity’s co-founder, told The Art Newspaper in March 2007 that at the time, the number of works sold to Berardo was the largest single purchase ever made from the foundation by a foreign collector. Berardo’s acquisition budget for the park is undisclosed.

THE rampant menace of extremism is slowly and steadily taking over the minds and souls of every individual in society.

Some time back I happen to visit the Capital City Police office in Quetta and noticed that a board on which photographs of police martyrs were placed was in a bad condition.

Pictures, specially of those belonging to the Hazara community, were torn apart.

I asked one of the officials about the cause of the destruction. He told me that last night the photographs were torn apart by some unknown person and it is still under investigation about who could have done such a shameful act.

However, the causes are still unknown. Being a member of the Hazara community, as well as a member of the police department, I was really shocked to see this and thought that the situation has came to such a pass that they could not even bear the photographs of the martyrs being placed in a government building, let alone spare our lives.

On the other hand, the police department, which has to provide security against such extremists, has to face terrorists having such mindset.

Another tragedy recently occurred at the Central Police Office, Quetta. The name plates outside the offices of the Hazara police officers were broken by some unknown person or persons while dirt was splattered on the plates.

In such a situation, I am afraid that the noose is being tightened around our neck and we are left with no option but to live in fear not only because of extremism, but also because of people around us with whom we have everyday business.

Or should I say we have to fear our shadows as well?

This is the situation we are living in. Through these columns, I want to alert the authorities having power to eradicate this menace. I would like them to act quickly.